Fripp - Softcover

Eager young private investigator Twyford Fripp has just taken on his first case - finding the wife of a retired rear-admiral who has fled him and his insatiable lust for her, and persuading her to return home. She has gone to stay with an old female friend, a school secretary helping to prepare for a royal visit marking the opening of the school's new sports complex. The involvement of the rear-admiral's GP, a ruthless madam who runs an escort agency, a dodgy entrepreneurial farmer, a semi-retired rock star and his girlfriend, a police surveillance exercise in which Fripp is mistaken for a notorious Australian terrorist, and a wolfhound from hell, all turn out to be a recipe for sheer chaos. Like Tom Sharpe's novels, this is for the broad-minded, but if you enjoy them you'll absolutely love this racy, side-splitting farce. The author is already known for his TV and theatre work, and let's hope this novel is the first of many. --Pat Venford, Book Reviews, South Hams Newspapers

Imagine a cross between Confessions of a Private Detective and Carry on Cornwall and you get the gist of Tredinnick's debut novel. It's a romp, simple as that; a touch saucy but good fun in a wot-no-pyjamas, double entendre sort of way that follows a long English tradition. It makes a jaunty, easy read. --Barney Spender, British Airways in-flight magazine Skylines

Fripp is a book that is certainly not for the narrow minded, being a tale of love - or should I say lust - amongst people who are old enough to know better. Retired Rear Admiral Peter Legg has lost his wife, Margot. No, he is not a widower - he has merely driven her away with his constant demands for sex, morning, noon and night. In desperation, she flees to her friend Pauline's home on the Cornish coast, not realising that Pauline has her own rather different designs on Margot's body. The main characters in the book are all very strong and believable and are delightfully complimented by some of the minor characters. The bumbling local police force, the proprietor of the village shop, Mrs Tookey (she of the biggest bosoms known to mankind) and the teachers at the school where Pauline works as a secretary all add to the humour of the book. Special mention has to go to Herr Rumenberg, the school's German teacher whose command of the English language is not quite as good as he would like to believe. This is Tredinnick's first novel although he has previously written several successful plays and television comedies, including contributing to Birds of a Feather and writing for Frankie Howerd. Fans of Tom Sharpe or similar writers will love it and find it a rollicking good read. I await his second book with eager anticipation, laughing muscles at the ready. --Nicola Sly, Phoenix Book Reviews

Miles Tredinnick's comedy stage plays include Twist, Topless, Laugh? I Nearly Went to Miami!, It's Now or Never!, Topless in Philadelphia and Up Pompeii. For BBC1 TV he created and wrote the comedy series Wyatt's Watchdogs and was also a writer on the hit show Birds of a Feather. In addition, Miles wrote stage and television material for Frankie Howerd, including co-writing the Channel 4 special Superfrank! and the stage comedy Up Pompeii. Fripp is his first novel.